The Contemporary Art of Commercial Camouflage

By Dornob Staff

When the natural world out-sized our constructed one, when rural was the norm and urban was uncommon, camouflage meant blending in with the greens, browns, oranges and other tones of the environment. These urban camouflageartists from Germany ask and answer the question of how to camouflage oneself in a commercial urban space.

Venturing into big-box stores like the infamous Ikea, these unusual urban explorers experienced first-hand the complex problem of camouflage in contemporary situations. They had to deal with confused or apprehensive customers and had conflicts with employees. After all, unlike nature, this is the private – not the public – realm.

One of the most amazing results of this endeavor: it is remarkably possible to hide oneself in plain view in the middle of a well-lit commercial interior space, despite the ubiquitous cameras, customers and employees roaming about the place. Perhaps the element of surprise works here as it does in the wild: the roving herds simply don’t see something that they don’t expect to, so carefully blended with its surroundings.